But for the paltry tribe, who calculate, Still ere they give, the profit and the rate; And charity itself,-a thing of trade; And even, when worldly least, then lent, not given; Le Sage hath drawn-a musket for a crutch ;) Yet this might pass; and he, without my plaint, A worldling here, be worshipped there a saint. On saintly throne, by brother worldlings set, The well-fumed Lama of his own Thibet ! But if he wield that most ill-gotten name, A mace to batter down his neighbour's fame, And crush who scorns to flatter; stung at this, What marvel, if I paint him as he is! Then from his full-blown pride and bursting bags, B.-If motive-sifting thus our deeds you touch, The world will say that you refine too much. A. That deeds are good or ill, as motive-wrought; That holiest forms, not spirit-fed, are nought; That piety degrades her high-born strain, In scramble with the mammon tribe for gain; So moral truths, that seek not to surprise, As more familiar, more attract the wise; So maxims trite, their frequency their strength, By repetition stamp themselves at length; With oft-driven furrow, first, the reason till; Then, from the reason, pass into the will. Let meditation deep-let fancy bold Vaunt of new matter-I but dress the old; Perchance ill dress; but striving nothing new, Am well content to be accorded true. RHYMED PLEA FOR TOLERANCE. DIALOGUE III. And though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 1 COR. xiii. A.-By no faint shame withheld from general gaze, 'Tis thus, my friend, we bask us in the blaze; Where deeds, more surface-smooth than inly bright, Snatch up a transient lustre from the light. Yet as rich hues, in loom of nature spun, The rose itself, will fade in torrid sun; G |